This paper gives us some understanding of how already today the progress of a neurodegenerative disease can be monitored and if a treatment or drug will stop the progression, mostly just by taking a blood sample or else If you compare this with a brain PET scan ( used in the Imagine study) things have become more simple and more clear and also the scans have improved.
In Alterity, neurofilament light measure was used in the mouse model of MSA ( AAN poster 2020) and now both in pre phase2 and phase2 studies with ATH434 and most likely in AD studies in the future. These will soon be routine measures to follow many different neurodegenerative diseases and also when finding if a drug will slow down the degenerative process. I am sure these will be used in the primate study.

Review

Mol Neurodegener

. 2021 Feb 19;16(1):10.

doi: 10.1186/s13024-021-00430-x.

Moving fluid biomarkers for Alzheimer's disease from research tools to routine clinical diagnostics

Henrik Zetterberg ^{1 2 3 4}, Kaj Blennow ^{5 6}

Affiliations expand

• PMID: 33608044

PMCID: PMC7893769 DOI: 10.1186/s13024-021-00430-xFree PMC article

Abstract

Four fluid-based biomarkers have been developed into diagnostic tests for Alzheimer's disease (AD) pathology: the ratio of 42 to 40 amino acid-long amyloid β, a marker of plaque pathology; total-tau and phosphorylated tau, markers of AD-related changes in tau metabolism and secretion; and neurofilament light, a marker of neurodegeneration. When measured in cerebrospinal fluid, these biomarkers can be used in clinical practice to support a diagnosis of mild cognitive impairment or dementia due to AD. Recently, technological breakthroughs have made it possible to measure them in standard blood samples as well. Here, we give an updated account of the current state of the fluid-based AD biomarker research field. We discuss how the new blood tests may be used in research and clinical practice, and what role they may play in relation to more established diagnostic tests, such as CSF biomarkers and amyloid and tau positron emission tomography, to facilitate the effective implementation of future disease-modifying therapies.